Architect Helen Hald’s humble Kirk home still awes

Originally published January 7, 2012 at 7:00 pm

Updated January 7, 2012 at 9:01 pm

“I like the proportion of the glass panels; and I like the lack of horizontal,” says architect and homeowner Helen Hald. “Horizontal lines are just about the most disturbing thing when you’re looking out at a natural setting. Vertical lines flow with the trees. The beauty of this house really is that those window panes are simply an expression of the structure.” The pictures are photographs of San Francisco Bay saltponds by Robert Campbell.

Hald relaxes in the living room. The original, two-sided, Roman-brick fireplace serves both dining room and living room. The oak floors are original. Hald’s tall, chocolate Martz lamp is worth hundreds more than the $14 she paid for it at a rummage sale.

The Hald home, originally 1,190 square feet, is now 1,450 because the previous owner expanded the house into the original carport. The home has three bedrooms and 11/2 baths. “Southern exposure is the way to design your house in this climate,” says the architect in Hald. “In the summertime with that overhang the sun barely enters the house. And in the wintertime the sun, with that low angle, comes clear back to the fireplace.”

“You come in the house and go, ‘Oh, my goodness, there’s this view.’ You don’t even look at the furniture,” Hald says. “When the sun comes out the light just dances around in here.” This shot of the dining room is a prime example.

In 1957 the design of the subdivision home was the only one of 28 winners unanimously voted an Honor Award in the American Institute of Architects-Sunset Magazine Western Home Awards. The judges called it “The best small house I’ve seen.” Hald treated the exterior with a solid stain by Cabot, called Spanish Moss. It had been taupe with dark trim.

Hald installed cork tiles in the kitchen and bathroom. She was inspired partly “because Frank Lloyd Wright always put cork in his kitchens and bathrooms,” Hald says. “Once sealed, it is most durable, and cork is an insulator so the floors stay warm in the winter.” The cabinets are original. She found the piece on the wall at a secondhand store.

0
of 0

The Seattle-area architect lives in an entire neighborhood of Midcentury ramblers designed by revered Northwest architect Paul Hayden Kirk.

“LOOK AT these posts!” says Helen Hald, stroking the supports of her living room’s glass wall. “They’re milled 3-by-4s, not conventional lumber. You sense that there’s something about them that’s a l-i-t-t-l-e bit different.

That’s because Hald is an architect who lives in an entire neighborhood of Midcentury ramblers designed by revered Northwest architect Paul Hayden Kirk. Outside those glass walls she sees a parklike yard designed by the guy who used to live down the street: William Teufel, considered, in his day, to be one of the most accomplished landscape and golf-course architects in the nation. He designed the grounds for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, now Seattle Center.

It was 19 years ago when Helen and Ed became the second owners of their home in what was called Little Finn Hill, South Juanita now. But Hald still can’t get over their luck.

“This house is very simple, but it’s very unconventional. The header is framed up into the roof so the glass can go up to the ceiling,” she says, marveling. “The ceilings are 8 feet, but because the glass is flush to the ceiling it is flooded with light all the time!”

See?

At first glance, the Halds’ neighborhood appears modest. That is the beauty of it. Each of the 16 houses here began their lives as Kirks. Humble, simple, private, flexible, featured in the Sept. 15, 1958, issue of Life magazine as More Livable U.S. Homes: “The houses have almost a quality of being sculptured in wood — the small community is redolent with the flavor of pleasant living. Wives gather weekly in each other’s homes for coffee and neighborly chitchat, and once a month there is a whopping big Saturday night party for everyone. This is a community that parallels, sociologically, the talent that has gone into its architecture.”

Life was almost as enthusiastic then as Hald, who has taken a preservationist’s approach to her home, is 54 years later.

The homes here were drawn to be 1,190 square feet, sharing one L-shaped design. Roofs are either sloped or flat (the cheaper option). Lots are large, 15,600 square feet on one side of the street, 12,000 on the other. Some of the original carports, including the Halds’, have been made into rooms. In their case, an office.

The Halds found their gem after searching for a year and switching real-estate agents. She tossed out Hald’s criteria for location (near Interstate 90) and price ($150,000). And for $160,000 Helen and Ed Hald had their piece of Northwest architectural history.

“I got there in the dark in the rain,” Hald says. “The place was completely cleaned out. And I knew. I was back over here the next morning.

“These houses have no ego. They’re these quiet, understated containers, yet there is this sense of discovery in that L-shape.”

Most of the home is as it was: tongue-and-groove fir walls, oak floors, cabinets of sen and oak-ply veneer, wood-slat accordion closet doors. Some of the glass walls (across the entire back of the house) were reduced before the Halds bought the home, but they remain in the living room. The bathroom has been updated with care.

“This place has taught me so much about architecture: It doesn’t have to be grand. It doesn’t have to be expensive,” Hald says. “It’s the size of a double-wide, but it’s magical. The proportions and the lines are just so pleasing.

Rebecca Teagarden: bteagarden@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @RTeagarden. Rebecca Teagarden writes about architecture and design for Pacific NW magazine of The Seattle Times. She is also associate editor of Pacific NW.